Thursday, April 23, 2015

Ten people
read my blog---I’m being too hard on myself---maybe eleven. Blue
Like Jazz by Donald Miller went Platinum, selling over a million
copies. In short that’s why I find his
advice valuable. For his newest project,
Author Launch, he took part in a Webinar; ‘Ask An Author Anything.” In that interview about writing a book he
said, ‘new writers should practice by writing a book’, “Practice what you want
to do.” He advised not to blog or
Instagram; but write the book. I get
it. I just find it interesting that
while writing his newest book, “Scary Close” Miller was blogging for Storyline
and running Storyline conferences. The
reason for this is that Donald Miller’s vision is larger than writing a
best-selling novel.

“The truth
is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it
won’t make a life meaningful either,” so begins A Million Miles in a Thousand
Years. Miller’s heartbeat is to live a
great story. His mission is to stimulate
others to live a great story as well.
Whatever your vision is; whatever your art is, it needs to be
defined. Your vision must be clear; your
goal clearly established.

My neighbor
works all day at the Marine base; comes home, turns on the television and sits
in his favorite chair while his wife makes dinner. The television shows change but the routine
remains the same. My neighbor is a great
guy—he goes to church, cares for others, loves his kids, and loves his
wife. Is his personal goal five hours of
TV a night? That’s doubtful. His goals
are not defined. He has no mission
statement.

I don’t
want to die like that. When my last
breath comes; however it comes (or doesn’t come) I want to have few regrets as
possible. I need to know I rode
hard---even if it was only for one good season---still I want it said that I rode
hard, played hard, tried living full, stumbled certainly, but pushed harder
than most. Focus means there’s a
target. Pushing hard means there’s a
goal. Beating my best means there’s a
baseline. Let’s take some time to dream
and evaluate. What’s our vision? What fires us up? What’s that look like lived out? What dies if we succumb to the comfort of our
living room Barcalounger?